The inventive subject matter relates to power supply apparatus and methods and, more particularly, to generator systems and methods.
UPS systems are commonly used in commercial and industrial facilities, such as data centers, telecommunications facilities, factories and hospitals. They are often used to provide reliable, high quality power to critical equipment, such as computer systems.
UPS systems typically include one or more batteries, which are used to provide power to critical equipment when a primary utility power source fails. Batteries generally have high energy density, which can enable them to provide power for extended time periods. However, batteries may be expensive to purchase and maintain. They typically require frequent maintenance, may have a relatively short life and it may be difficult to accurately determine their state of health. Batteries may also need controlled environmental conditions, which may restrict their application.
A large number of data centers and other installations now use local backup generator sets (e.g., diesel-electric generator sets) to provide extended backup power. However, such generator sets typically require significant time to start up and stabilize before their power output is of sufficient quality to serve the load. Because of this delay, such installations still typically use battery-based UPSs to provide backup power after a utility failure until the output of the backup generator set stabilizes.